Caleb Carr Books

I recently ordered the First Edition of this book, and it is the only first edition I have ever bought, years after it was published. I did this because it is Far and Away the best mystery I have ever read. It sounds like "Sci Fi" by the title, but it isn't at all. The word "Alienist" is one which was used in the late 1800's for a psychologist. It is about the apprehension of a serial killer, whose crimes were committed at the turn of last century, set in New York. Fabulously detailed, and everyone I have reccommended this book to agrees that it is one of their favorites, if not THE favorite as well. The first 25 pages don't grab you like some top ten bestsellers, but THEN...LOOK OUT!!!! Fantastic, is all I can say!!!

If you enjoyed Silence of the Lambs then you will really enjoy this wonderful novel.

Caleb Carr (a historian whose penetrating insight I have always admired) and James Chace deliver a fascinating analysis of the development American foreign policy, and offer a compelling explanation for the abandonment of the principles expounded in Washington's Farewell Address.

They postulate that events in the oft-forgotten War of 1812 with Great Britain, a mere 16 years after Washington's retirement, so wounded the psyche of infant republic that it caused a shift from the "great rule of conduct...when we will take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected" to what in modern times we call "Projection of Force."

The traumatic event? When a contingent of Royal Marines landed, razed Washington DC, sent the President and other officers scurrying off into the night, while the US military ... did nothing in particular. This, needless to say, freaked the country out. Carr and Chace see this as a "Tipping Point," and in scholarly fashion go on to chronicle the history of the United States through its conflicts with Mexico and Spain in the 19th century.

It, of course, doesn't stop there. They show how we continued throughout the 20th century to, against the warnings of Washington, "forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation [and] quit our own to stand upon foreign ground." How we "by interweaving our destiny [and] entangl[ing] our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humour, [and] caprice" find ourselves -- well, where we are today -- chasing windmills in the quest for absolute security.

It is amazing how two Georges can be so different. Read it.

Croisement entre Le Silence des agneaux, Jack l'Eventreur et Sherlock Holmes, ce premier roman de l'historien Caleb Carr est saisissant. Puisant dans ses talents d'historien, Carr réussit à reconstituer toute l'atmosphère de New York des années 1890. On en arrive presque à entendre le cliquetis des sabots des chevaux qui tiraient les fiacres.

Carr nous attire dans le côté sombre de New York, alors que de jeunes prostitués se font traquer par un tueur en série. Une bande de détectives, constituée d'un journaliste au New York Times (et narrateur de l'histoire), de deux frères détectives de la police de New York, pionniers dans les nouvelles techniques criminologiques, d'une assistante au Préfet de la Police de New York (Theodore Roosevelt), et d'un "aliéniste", professionnel de la santé mentale de l'époque, tentent de coincer le tueur en dressant son profil psychologique, chose qui allait à l'encontre de toutes les pratiques policières de l'époque.

Carr expose les faits, pose son hypothèse, et les valide au moyen d'observations réalisées par l'équipe sur les lieux des crimes. La démarche scientifique en action.

Difficile de mettre le livre de côté pour un seul instant!

A group of civil war prison escapees manage to get wrecked on a strange island, after taking off in a balloon.

Being soldiers, they have a penchant for shooting things, breaking stuff and blowing things up. The characters do change over time and evolve in their outlook, while being limited by the knowledge of the time.

It all builds to an exciting climax as the group discovers they are being aided by the elusive Captain Nemo.

After reading The Mysterious Island, I wonder how much Jules Verne's current reputation is based on 1950s and '60s movies loosely--very loosely--adapted from his novels. In this book, there are no giant crabs or bees, or aliens, or even women. There are five men and a dog seeking to escape besieged Richmond during the Civil War who are carried off in a balloon by hurricane winds to an uncharted island in the Pacific, where they find and make what they need to survive.

The "colonists," as they style themselves to avoid the negative connotations of "castaways," are an improbable assortment, each man having knowledge or skills that complement those of the others. Cyrus Harding, the engineer, is not only a bottomless well of information about mechanics, chemistry, navigation, and other practical topics, but is also a natural leader. Gideon Spillett, the reporter, is an expert hunter. Pencroft, the sailor, knows shipbuilding and is a willing worker, while his teenage ward, Herbert, is a knowledgeable naturalist and able hunter. Harding's servant, Neb, plays the role of cook and domestic, while Harding's dog, Top, provides keen senses and instinct. When Verne wrote, "It would have been difficult to unite five men, better fitted to struggle against fate, more certain to triumph over it," it cannot have been without some sense of irony, since he is the one who brought them together in his imagination.

While a mysterious influence, whose acts are ambiguous at first but become more tangible over time, rescues the settlers or provides them with just what they need just when they need it, the real mystery of the island is the island itself. Perhaps Verne misunderstood or misused common names; he calls Jup's troop both "orangutans" (apes) and "baboons" (monkeys). He might have been pandering to a Victorian taste for the exotic. The island that the settlers call "Lincoln" for their wartime president is an impossibility of nature. Creatures from nearly every continent and ecosystem roam among an equally unlikely mixture of geological formations and collection of plants. Onagers from the Asian steppes and Middle Eastern deserts, koalas (described as "large" and speedy) from Australia, jaguars from Central and South America, orangutans from the Borneo rain forest, and musmons from isles of the Mediterranean are among Nature's bounty found on this small temperate island. Here, tropical apes, cats, and parrots survive below-freezing winters as easily as the musmons and goats.

The mineral riches are equally diverse, but even as he wonders about this paradise, Harding tells his comrades, "Nature gives us these things. It is our business to make a right use of them," signaling the beginning of man's never-ending quest to conquer and destroy nature. Even the water must be tamed; the settlers must "borrow its power, actually lost without profit to any one."

Under Harding's leadership, and with the occasional help of the island's secret benefactor, the colonists build an incredible infrastructure that provides them with shelter, water, food, clothing, power, tools, and weapons. Harding is not the leader because he is rich, good looking, charismatic, well spoken, or the other things that appeal to civilized man; he is the leader because he knows what to do and how to do it, and has faith in his ability to do it--and because he has intelligent followers in whom he can instill that same faith. The lack of discord among the colonists is as unlikely as the flora and fauna, but it may be Verne's commentary on leadership when it is most needed. When an important decision must be made, Harding refuses to make it without obtaining the opinions of all concerned, including his own servant. Taken away from civilization and its layers of social, moral, and other complexities, and forced into a situation where able leadership and willing cooperation mean not only survival but comfort and satisfaction, these men rise to the occasion. It is no coincidence that the impetus for the arrival on Lincoln Island is the Civil War, one of America's bloodiest, most savage times.

In the afterword, author Isaac Asimov tried to determine the appeal of "robinsonades" like Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, and The Mysterious Island. He came to the conclusion that such tales answer the question, "What do I do if civilization fails me?"--a question that could apply to castaways on an uncharted island or survivors of a civil war or a nuclear or chemical/biochemical holocaust. Perhaps, though, the question is more basic than that. It might be, "Do I need civilization at all?"

While the North and South were counting and burying their dead and trying to heal the nation--a process that in some ways has not been completed--Harding and his group were using both their minds and their hands to shape a near-paradise (interestingly, one in which tobacco is missed sorely, but not women).

The Mysterious Island starts off slowly; too much ink is dedicated to Pencroft's desire to kill eat every creature they encounter, and the characters can seem psychologically shallow and limited to a mature reader. At some point, however, I found myself so interested in Lincoln Island that I, like the colonists, was reluctant to leave it. I was even disappointed by the ultimate fate and home of the settlers, as it did not seem the right place for them to be. While not a literary masterpiece, The Mysterious Island does not need giant crabs, bees, or even women to be a good story of its kind.

Jules Verne's _The Mysterious Island_ (1874 - 1875) is a massive work in terms of its scope and development. Verne spends over six hundred pages describing the lives of five castaways on a deserted island over a three year period. The men--Cyrus Smith, Gideon Spilett, Nebuchadnezzar (Neb), Pencroff, and Harbert Brown--have escaped captivity from Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War. Taking to flight on an unguarded Confederate hot air balloon (an "aerostat") during a storm, the five men find themselves blown wildly off course-- providentially, though, to a hitherto undiscovered island in the middle of the wastes of the Pacific Ocean.

Unlike Daniel Defoe's protagonist Robinson Crusoe, who is able to scavenge supplies from the shipwreck, the five men must start their lives anew with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Cyrus Smith, an engineer, is a mechanical genuis, and slowly through his guidance, the colonists begin to establish themselves, inventing (or re-inventing) all that they need to survive. Through the improvements of the colonists, Verne is able to trace the scientific advancements of mankind through roughly five millenia, from the prehistoric period (3000 BC) up to the nineteenth-century. This is a brilliant aspect of the book. We see the colonists move from the production of pottery in a kiln, to metallurgy, the machine age, energy production, and the creation of weaponry and explosives. Verne's knowledge of science is copious, and the novel educates the reader about human progress.

Another interesting component is Verne's use of suspense. He works through the conventions of the castaway genre made famous in _Robinson Crusoe_--for example, the men's discovery that the land is an island not a continent; the question of whether there are other island inhabitants and, if so, whether they are friend or foe; the visit by outsiders; the buidling of a new ship, etc. Verne also adds many new elements. One problem with the book is a major timeline error, which the narrator himself admits in a footnote. The chronology issue will be apparent to readers who have read other Verne novels and who, as a result, anticipate the ending. Why Verne allowed such an error, after meticulously developing his novel with scientific accuracy, is itself mysterious since the ending could have been handled differently.

Two other points of note are Verne's depiction of Neb, a former slave who remains devoted to his previous master, Cyrus Smith, and Verne's predictions about future scientific advancement. On the former point, one wonders what Verne's views were about race relations in America after the Civil War. This friendship, for a contemporary reader, raises many questions. An example of Verne's knack for anticipating the advancement of science is his discussion of alternative energy, namely the hydrogen economy (yes, you read that correctly!). Cyrus Smith comments, "Yes, my friend, I believe that water will one day be used as fuel, that the hydrogen and oxygen of which it is constituted will be used, simultaneously or in isolation, to furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, more powerful than coal can ever be" (327).

Jordan Stump's translation can be a bit ponderous because of its faithfulness to the nineteenth-century French, which is also, it must be said, a strength. Although sometimes plodding, this is definitely a worthwhile book. Stump's translation reveals Verne's fascination with science and Verne's ability to make science absolutely fascinating in a novel.

In one of those odd coincidences, there hasn't been an english translation of this book in about 100 years, but two came out in 2000/1. One is actually available online: it was done as a labor of love by a retired
engineer. I didn't like his prose style, and found that he actively
mistranslated a crucial section to make it politically correct (Nemo's dying words were crucial and not nice ones). So I bought the english-professor's (Jordan) version. I enjoyed it.

Effectively, it was a "Swiss Family Robinson" type story, though it was rather more butt-kicking than that book. It was amusing to note how progressive Verne was in some ways, and how oddly backwards he was in others. For example, Neb (the former slave negro) was treated as a dignified man rather than a shucking and jiving type. However, Verne couldn't help but make jokes comparing him to the "half man" orangutang who became part of the family as well. Worth a looksie if you are a Verne fan. You have to understand what Verne is; he is a man of his time -you will be getting anarchic french Victorian-era technology-optimistic science fiction. If you're interested in that, this is a great introduction to it. If you're not, you'd probably be better off reading something else.

On a trip to Paris, my poking around the Verne themed metro station (a metro made up to look like a victorian submarine) inspired me to check out some Verne.

The book opens with two prisoners of the Cofederate army along with three other men escaping in a hot air balloon. Contrary to their plans, a storm arises that blows them all the way to an uncharted volcanic island in the southern Pacific. Cyrus Harding is the natural leader of the group, and apparently very well informed in matters of science, proceeds to guide the men into establishing a colony, and providing for their every need. They use the resources found on the island, as well as their education. The book is in the genre of "The Swiss Family Robinson", except that as one of the men said, "they quite took the wind out of the sails of the Robinsons, for whom everything was done by a miracle." The first half of the book details how they were able to provide for their needs, and build a home on the island. The reading can become tedious unless the science of the way they performed each action is considered very interesting. I enjoyed it for a while, but not being too scientific myself, near the end of the second half of the book, I just wanted to get through it. It is very detailed, and if I was interested in it all, it truly would have been captivating.

The second half of the book explains certain mysterious occurrences that two of the party had been observing from the beginning. The story moves along more quickly, and the mystery draws the reader to turn the pages faster. They meet Captain Nemo from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" in his final hours, and are finally rescued after the island has been blown into oblivion by the volcano.

I enjoyed all the information in the book, but it can a little dry at times. The men develop close relationships as they work together to survive, and they all seem to have unlimited faith in Cyrus Harding to know what to do in every situation. They appear to believe in God, but He is not a part of their lives; one could guess that Jules Verne was an evolutionary deist. We are not told that the men are evolutionists, but their words definitely reveal them to be humanists. So I would recommend the book to those looking for interesting educational entertainment, but nothing deeper.

If ever there was a title that lived up to its name, it's this book's title. Jules Verne, who I am now convinced is a consummate storyteller, weaves a tale that is so fascinating and readable that I constantly found myself musing over its contents even when I wasn't reading. My only other acquaintance with Jules Verne's writings was with "Around the World in Eighty Days," which surprised me by how entertaining it was. I went into "The Mysterious Island" a little more prepared, but Mr. Verne still managed to throw me off guard. This is a great read for two reasons. First, it is an incredibly fascinating account of survival. Not just in the same vein as "Robinson Crusoe," and "The Swiss Family Robinson" (which Verne deftly acknowledges in the story itself), though in many ways it is very similar to those accounts, but it takes a whole new approach, which raises the castaway situation from, not just survival, but civilization making. I suppose, if you are not much interested in how tools are made, how things are manufactured, the rudiments of civilization itself, the book might seem to drag for you and might even seem to be taken from the pages of a textbook. I, for one, even though I am the farthest thing from a scientist, delighted in this instructional storytelling. Everything seemed possible, the ingenuity of man's mind was glorified, obstacles of nature were surmounted with the cleverest tricks. If ever I were to be a castaway, this book would be a must have. Even though the narrative did take an instructional tone at times, and I did slow down my reading, I never did dislike it. I always came back to the book with enthusiasm. And, I must add, Verne did an incredible job of making some of the most, seemingly mundane things spellbinding. One scene, where the castaways are attempting to light a fire with the one match that they have was absolutely gripping, my palms were nearly sweating. I will never light a match frivolously again (I know that's a lie, but it sure felt that way when I was reading). That was one reason that I loved the book. If that were the only aspect of the story, I would have walked away loving it. But Verne doesn't stop there. He also approaches a completely different angle of storytelling, and this is where the "mystery" in the title comes into play. Boy, is he subtle. Man, does Verne play his cards just right when he introduces the mystery of the island. Some strange things occur, but they aren't completely out of the ordinary; they are possibly explained; they are quickly forgotten. But then something else happens, he drops some other subtle hints here and there. He lays it on so smoothly, that it isn't until half way through the novel that you realize that there is something else entirely going on here. Some strange, inexplicable presence. Something that, surprisingly, you realize is integral to the plot (even though you knew from the title that would be the case, Verne lures you into forgetting it). Once the mystery finally starts to take center stage, Verne coyly drops other hints and clues, but never unveils the whole thing, leaving you guessing. At a couple of points, he nearly drove me over the edge. I had to know, and I didn't like being played with. But quickly enough, Verne makes amends and you move on until you catch the next hint. My guesses for the strange events were all over the spectrum, ranging from deity, to fables, to time traveling, among other wild speculations. But with each successive hint, I had to reassess. As the mystery becomes more bold and the events more blatant, there were times where I was almost bursting at the seams to know what was behind it all. If you are reading this and thinking that this is a rather large setup, leading to what must surely be a huge let down, then you are thinking exactly what I thought. I kept on thinking that there was nothing Verne could do to legitimize these events in a consistent way that fits with everything. So this begs the question, does Verne pull it off? Does the mystery fit the brilliant set up? My answer: Yes and no. When the mystery was finally revealed (and yes, it is revealed ... I wondered for a while whether it would even be resolved at all), it made sense, and it fit, and I believed it within Verne's realm of storytelling. But I did feel like it was a little bit of a cheat. Not a big one, mind you, but a little bit of a cut corner. I don't want to give anything away, because I didn't get such an advantage, nor would I have wanted one, but the mystery relies on something that I don't know is completely fair. Yet, in the end, I figured that Verne still did a tremendous job. As I looked back on the setup, and the experience, I realized that I really enjoyed every step of the way ... even if not knowing nearly drove me crazy at some points. Thinking about this, and looking at my very long review which such masterful storytelling has elicited, I have suddenly come to the conclusion that "The Mysterious Island" deserves my highest recommendation for that reason alone. The journey was worth the destination, and even if the journey did manage to slightly outshine the destination, it was a pretty satisfying place to end anyway.

Note: Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks

To escape the Civil War, some men steal a hot-air balloon, and caught in a huge storm, they finally land, of course, near a "mysterious island." I saw the movie fifty years ago as a child, and later read the novel. The images have stayed with me all these years.

What a debt we owe to Jules Verne for taking us so many fantastic places!

As for the ecology of the island, I think some readers are taking the story too seriously. Just lay back and have a great adventure. It's easy to pass over the things that we wouldn't do today. If they had turned the island into a nature preserve, there wouldn't be the same wondrous story.

Ten stars if I could give that many!

And if you like lost-on-an-island adventures, be sure to read Richard Laymon's "Island." Highly recommended! Unput-downable!
Island

excellent book, but you obviously don't need me to tell you this. just look at how long its been in production.

I really love fantasy and adventure novels, maybe because I am a geek, maybe because I am immature, but I really do. This book however left me with a bitter taste on my lips. I enjoy Verne's fantasy and his easy and fluid writing syle but I cannot stand the general tone of this one novel.. which is about a few guys that , while involved in the american civil war, have the very bad idea of flying in a balloon during a storm and end up stranded in your classic desert island. As soon as they land on this island they start laying waste on it killing whatever animal crosses their path, even if just to make candles and make their house a little more comfy. Not happy with that they even manage to fabric explosives to bomb the island here and there. Before you know, they have changed a luxurious, splendid , wild tropical island in a boring american ranch. A clear example and metaphor of the well known human attitude for consuming , exploiting and polluting nature. Nowhere in the book Verne takes the chance to make his characters reflect on the absurdity of war even if the peaceful life they were leading in the island would make the ideal contrast for it. I won't say anything about Ned, one of the characters, an ex slave freed by his master who seems to be there just to blindly follow his master like a dog. I think it 's self-commenting.
Overall, still a good adventure book, but also an (unwanted) saddening portrait of human nature.

This is my favorite book by Jules Verne and I've always been disappointed that it is so underappreciated.

After escaping a confederate prison camp in a hot air balloon, five men are stranded on a remote island. The characters prove to be innovative and determined souls and set about creating a life for themselves using their knowledge of chemistry and other sciences.

The title of the book stems from a series of mysterious incidents that seem to be the work of a benevolent force helping the survivors.

Their ingenuity makes for fascinating reading and once again validates Jules Verne as one of the most intuitive authors of all time.

In 1859 a 28 year-old sailing officer from Salem Massachusetts took service under the Chinese Empire to defend it from mortal danger. When this young man died in battle in 1863 he had put down the largest and bloodiest civil war in human history (the American Civil War raging at the same time pales in comparison), he had been made a general and a mandarin, he had married a Chinese princess, and he was interred in his own temple. Perhaps most impressively was the fact that he did all of this while retaining the reputation among his friends and foes of being a man of decency, fairness, honor and incorruptibility. And yet for all this, he is nearly forgotten in both his native and adopted country.

Frederick Townsend Ward's history was erased largely because he was feared by both his Manchu masters and by the European powers that were seeking to dismember China for their own mercenary ends. The author speculates that due to his contempt for the cruelty and corruption of the Manchu's, that had he survived, he might have turned the instrument of his "Ever Victorious Army" against them in order to restore the Ming Dynasty. Had that happened, the history of China could have far different in the century that followed. It is clear that Ward found the concept of ending the Empire as unthinkable- which is why the later republic never honored his memory.

One other thing struck me while reading this book: Ward wanted to attend West Point but was not able to obtain an appointment because he lacked "connections." In the long run this didn't seem to hurt him too much....

If this story were fiction it would surely be dismissed as too far-fetched to ever be believed.

When you mention to most (Americans) about the civil war of the 1860's, most likely they'll think you're talking about "The War Between The States", The American Civil-War.

However, roughly around the same time that America's North & South were slowly edging towards that great tragedy over the issue of slavery, a different civil war was gripping another of the Earth's great nations half a world away in a struggle that would claim millions(!) of more lives than even that more famous (to the American mind) struggle. The Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864), initiated by Hung Hsiu Chuan, a man who had failed in China's examinations to become a civil-servant, was a war over religious beliefs, ideology, & class-struggle. Hung, in a "vision" had believed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ(!) His Taipings, made up of neo-Christian Chinese converts, frustrated & angered over the corruption & poverty imposed upon them by their inept Manchu rulers, captured several Chinese cities, established their base in Nanking, & nearly succeeded in toppling the Chinese (Manchu) empire. Hung's Christian learnings came from an American, Issachar Roberts. One of his oppoenents, an important adversary, a soldier for hire who had worked in Mexico, California, & Texas as a professional mercenary, who came to China & trained Chinese soldiers in the most up to date weaponry & tactics (as well as absorbing much of China's military culture), was an American also: Fredrick Townsend Ward.

Ward was a loner, a man who worked for prestige rather than money, a man who was stern yet fair to his band of mercenaries, & a man free of racial prejudices. He was the classic warrior, a character you would expect to find in westerns & adventure movies. However, he was real! He fought against both the Taiping Rebels, who he respected in battle & who respected him, as well as the corruption of his Manchu employers & the British military, who saw Ward's actions as a threat to the West's (Europe & the U.S.A.'s) strict policy of neutrality. In the end, he died in battle, but he won what he prized above anything else, recognition for his outstanding achievements in this most deadly of occupations. For a brief moment in history, thanks to Ward, East met West in a joint-collaboration to form a team of fighting men the likes of which the world had never seen. (Imagine the sight. American & European mercenaries armed not only with rifles & cannon, but also being acquainted with Chinese martial-arts weapons, including swords, spears, & bamboo-clay "bombs", filled with gun-powder, natural poisons, & (yuck!) human feces. Fighing alongside with them are Ward's Chinese troops, wearing the traditional Manchu queue (pigtail) & also armed with traditional martial-arts weapons, but also instructed (by Ward) in the use of Sharp's rifles, Colt revolvers, & modern cannon & mortars! Again, this isn't a comic-book fantasy or a Jackie Chan movie, this was real life!)

Caleb Carr does a meticulous, yet gripping, & in fact, fast-paced narrative on Ward's life. This book, along with Evan Connell's "Son of The Morning Star" & Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" should be a classic in historical reading. It gives a good portrait of the times, the nations, & the individual characters of this truly international struggle. (It wasn't just Chinese & Manchus. The British, The Americans, The French, The Russians, & even Filipino mercenaries all played a part in this epic true-life story.) It's tragic, compelling, uplifting at times, & depressing at others. However, one thing is certain. It educates & entertains without compromising on either count!

Hollywood (& Hong-Kong) film-makers take notice! This book is the stuff of great action-films, with heroes (& villains) that you would find in the greatest Westerns, the romance of high-adventure, & (given the culture & the methods of the major antagonists) all the flash of a martial-arts movie classic! ("Crouching Tiger" eat your heart out!)

Buy this book if you can. You won't be dissappointed.

The author has done excellent research in developing a biography of the life and times of Frederick Townsend Ward during China's Taiping rebellions during 1860 through 1863. But as a historian seeking accuracy of facts, the author commits several types of "avoidable" error in just writing.

In attempting to get the who, what, where, when, and why about people and places, he clouds these issues with such overwhelming "context", that it becomes difficult to read at times to see the forest because of the trees. Quite often his sentences are just too long, many running 200 words or more, with the result that the reader has to go back and re-read them again. It's easy to get lost because of his verbosity in spite of the fact that he uses simple words.

The author makes excessive use of parentheses to slide extra context into his sentences; where in itself this isn't bad, but when his writing contains sub-context within sub-context of a context in one single sentence, before he tells us of an event happening, his writing is difficult to read (like this sentence).

Moreover, what is surprising is that the author, Caleb Carr, is not guilty of any of these stylistic errors in anything else of his that I have read. He has always gripped my attention.

But my criticisms aside, the author goes out of his way to be an independent observer and commentator about the events concerning Ward's battles, based on a plethora of well documented research and opinion. He is very careful to imply just this, as opposed to fact, as a responsible historian should. In so doing, he does a very credible job in showing Frederick Townsend Ward to be an honourable, honest, responsible, and loyal warrior of the Manchu imperialists who were just not at all deserving of the services of\a man of such integrity.

Also because of the author's research into the cultural attitudes of the Chinese, it becomes easier to understand how China's people fell into another form of personal domination, by the same calibre of government it has today.

This is my all time favorite book. If you love historical fiction and/or crime novels you must read this! The story and characters are fabulous. It is such a page turner I could not sleep for three days until I finished it! And then I was sad it was done!

Absolutely one of the best books I've ever read, and I've read a lot. Its characters are so strong and leave one of the strongest residual traces of any novel I've picked up. Caleb Carr's New York is almost as vivid and visual as a movie, the author's researched the historical facts very well. I've recommended this to a lot of people. However, the follow up, "Angel of Darkness" was very disappointing.

This is a great book for anyone 15 and older. It helps give you an understanding of young America, the medical profession and our society and how we treated those who were on the edge of it. Great suspense, imagery and superb style makes this a great book you will read again.

I found this book to be a fine mix of plot and characterization. There also are a few interesting facts thrown in to add to the authenticity.

Laszlo Kreizler is an American version of Sherlock Holmes who, in the setting of New York City of the late 1800's, attempts to solve the murders of children. Kreizler and his cohorts use methods unheard of at the time as they endanger their careers and lives to find the culprit.

I found the characters engaging and the plot gripping. I couldn't wait to see who the killer was. I enjoy stories with a group of well defined characters -- but not too many so that I lose track -- and Carr succeeds in creating that.

I am approaching this review with the viewpoint of reading this book and I have not read the alienist yet, and this book is basically the sequel. I did like this book enough to go back and read Carr's previous volume. Although this book stands reasonably alone, I think that I would have enjoyed and understood the first part of the book by reading the first. Once you "get into" this book, it runs along as a nice mystery until two thirds through, then morphs into a courtroom drama. It does a good job of both. In addition, Carr does a nice job of setting the story in late 19th century NYC. Worth reading.

I was pleasantly surprised how much I anticipated reading this book after reading his Alienist....He does an excellent job of identifying characters and situations. I am only sorry he has not done any other books in this style, besides Alienist. I have had a difficult time finding an author with similar writings. Will just keep hoping he does another book in this time frame, and in this fashion.

The team from the Alienist is out to stop a serial killer before she kills the young child who has been kidnapped in New York City. The team proves to their satisfaction that Libby Hatch did it by (among more legitimate methods) breaking into her home two times, and arranging to have her coat stolen so they can check it out for fingerprints and hair samples. Then, when the baby is in immenent danger, they check out Libby's psychological background in upstate NY and leave the primary investigation hang for several weeks. They initiate a court case against Libby in Saratoga county, where they indulge in grave robbing for the purpose of plainting evidence to prove Libby killed her 2 children. Then they have the gall to criticize Clarence Darrow for ruining the future of the legal profession? Why did they bother having a trial at all? Since they decided she was guilty, why didn't they just kill her in New York City?- which they kind of did at the end!
I gave this book 3 stars because I did enjoy the evocation of old New York, and I am familiar with Saratoga and Renssalaer counties. It didn't even bother me that Stevie was the narrator. But when I looked back on the whole story, it gave me a chill from the actions of all sides.

Spell-bounding and heart-wrenching. I was swept back into a time of discovery that has shaped the contempary psychological hero's such Grisham on CSI. Their true predaccesor was Lazlo Kreizler, The turn of the century philanthopic psychologist who tests the bounds of society's precepts.( Can women be serial killers and still not have the right to vote?)

This is a reasonably convincing effort to continue to storyline begun in the Alienist, but, all things considered, simply is not in the same league. The Alienist moved quickly in an interesting and informative manner from one plot development to the next. This sequel moves, contrarily, cumbersomely and obviously from one development to the next. The characters are often transparent and not particularly convincing. The villain in this novel is particularly self-evident and Carr resorts to numbing repetition in a minimally successful effort to elucideate her disturbing criminality. To be fair, Angel of Darkness is not a bad read; it simply is not a great read. The Alienist, by comparison, is a novel, exciting, fresh page turner.

--Bill T-M.

If you liked the movie the ROUGH RIDERS starring Tom Berringer at "TR", you will enjoy this book. It was apparent that Berringer and crew did their homework as many parts of the movie are found in the book almost word-for-word. Much detail.
Nothing like history written by someone who was actually there.

"The Rough Riders," by Theodore Roosevelt, is the author's memoir of his experiences as part of the First United States Volunteer Cavalry during the Spanish-American War. The book's title comes from the nickname earned by the unit. The copyright page notes that the text was originally published in 1899. TR tells about the recruitment and training of the Rough Riders, their voyage to Cuba, their battles, and their return home.

Much of the book concerns what, in TR's opinion, makes for good soldiers and good leaders. Although the book first appeared over a century ago, I found many of TR's observations startlingly relevant to contemporary warfare; he discusses wartime refugees, guerrilla warfare, wartime atrocities, and battlefield news correspondents. Other topics covered include illness among the troops and the impact of weather and terrain on warfare. He also discusses occasional humorous material, such as the nicknames some soldiers earned.

Roosevelt includes fascinating technical details about the weapons of this era. Although he frankly discusses the violence, wounds, and deaths of the battlefield, overall I got a sense that TR saw the war as a grand adventure-even fun on a certain level. The writing style is very engaging and has a clear, matter-of-fact quality. TR's admiration and love for his troops ultimately gives the book a real warmth and humanity. This is truly a landmark in the rich canon of American military memoirs.

This was Teddy Roosevelt's account of his beloved Rough Riders and how they and him, virtually won the war in Cuba single-handed during the Spanish American War. I personally thought the book was well written, very informative about the character of the war, problems and individuals that make up the Rough Riders and Roosevelt's own take on the war. I am pretty sure that Teddy didn't write this book just for history. He had politics in mind when he wrote it and he made sure that he was at the center of the universe in his own book. Actually, there isn't nothing wrong with that since the book reads well and Roosevelt was generous with his praises toward many people. Teddy was also quite insightful in his observations of the way our military campaign in Cuba was being handled. It was clear that he did care a lot about his men and took his responsiblity seriously. A good reading material on the Spanish American War even with the pro-Teddy bias, you can't help but to be entertained by it.

Modern Library puts out some of the greatest book ever written. This is no different. Roosevelts account of his Rough Riders days jump off the page like a great fiction book. He discribes how he left the Navy Department and volunteered to serve in the Spanish American War. He discribes all of the charactors who served in the famed regiments that made up the Rough Riders. Some we College Graduate, some were cattle rustlers, farmers, etc. A real bunch of misfits.

I like his attention to detail and all the researchable facts. There is a list of all the men who served as Rough Riders.

This is recomended for anyone who likes history, the Spanish American War, and Theodore Roosevelt. I happen to like all three.

They came from all over the United States and the Western Territories. They were Ivy Leaguers, Cowboys, Indians, Sheriffs, Outlaws, Civil War veterans, Indian fighters, businessmen. Men like Allyn Capron, Buckey O'Neill, (future Secretary of the Navy) Frank Knox, Hamilton Fish, the famed Indian fighter Leonard Wood, and of course the bespectacled Assistant Secretary of the Navy, former New York Police Commissioner and sometime cowboy named Theodore Roosevelt.

The "Rough Riders" is Roosevelt's classic story of these highly motivated volunteers who eagerly volunteered to fight in the Spanish-American war, and whom many, including the regular army officer Capron, the Arizona sheriff O'Neill, Fish and others paid the ultimate price. And not all of the nearly 1000 men who volunteered ever made it over to Cuba. Several troops, to their everlasting sorrow, and nearly all of the horses had to stay in Tampa, the port of embarkation, because of a lack of troopships.

Roosevelt tells the entire story, which helped catapult him to the Presidency, of the feisty former Confederate Cavalry commander Joseph Wheeler, who commanded all of the volunteer cavalry, and who, to the amusement of his men, blurted out at Las Guismas, "We've got the damn Yankees on the run" - momentarily lapsing into Chickamauga, not Cuba!, and of how San Juan Hill was stormed and captured under intense fire from Spanish rifles, gatling guns, and cannon, and giving praise not just to his own men, but to the accompanying Black Cavalrymen of the 9th and 10th cavalry, and of the regular infantry units that were involved in the operation.

The colorful and fact-based story of brave American men who fought for the freedom of others, now sadly under totalitarian rule. A Classic slice of Americana written by one of America's best.